Differentiation of COVID-19 signs and symptoms from allergic rhinitis and common cold: An ARIA-EAACI-GA2LEN consensus

Jan Hagemann, Gabrielle L. Onorato, Marek Jutel, Cezmi A. Akdis, Ioana Agache, Torsten Zuberbier, Wienczyslawa Czarlewski, Joaquim Mullol, Anna Bedbrook, Claus Bachert, Kazi S. Bennoor, Karl-Christian Bergmann, Fulvio Braido, Paulo Camargos, Luis Caraballo, Victoria Cardona, Thomas Casale, Lorenzo Cecchi, Tomas Chivato, Derek K. ChuCemal Cingi, Jaime Correia-de-Sousa, Stefano del Giacco, Dejan Dokic, Mark Dykewicz, Motohiro Ebisawa, Yehia el-Gamal✝, Regina Emuzyte, Jean-Luc Fauquert, Alessandro Fiocchi, Wytske J. Fokkens, Joao A. Fonseca, Bilun Gemicioglu, René-Maximiliano Gomez, Maia Gotua, Tari Haahtela, Eckard Hamelmann, Tomohisa Iinuma, Juan Carlos Ivancevich, Ewa Jassem, Omer Kalayci, Przemyslaw Kardas, Musa Khaitov, Piotr Kuna, Violeta Kvedariene, Desiree E. Larenas-Linnemann, Brian Lipworth, Michael Makris, Jorge F. Maspero, Neven Miculinic, Florin Mihaltan, Yousser Mohammad, Stephen Montefort, Mario Morais-Almeida, Ralph Mösges, Robert Naclerio, Hugo Neffen, Marek Niedoszytko, Robyn E. O’Hehir, Ken Ohta, Yoshitaka Okamoto, Kimi Okubo, Petr Panzner, Nikolaos G. Papadopoulos, Giovanni Passalacqua, Vincenzo Patella, Ana Pereira, Oliver Pfaar, Davor Plavec, Todor A. Popov, Emmanuel P. Prokopakis, Francesca Puggioni, Filip Raciborski, Jere Reijula, Frederico S. Regateiro, Sietze Reitsma, Antonino Romano, Nelson Rosario, Menachem Rottem, Dermot Ryan, Boleslaw Samolinski, Joaquin Sastre, Dirceu Solé, Milan Sova, Cristiana Stellato, Charlotte Suppli-Ulrik, Ioanna Tsiligianni, Antonio Valero, Arunas Valiulis, Erkka Valovirta, Tuula Vasankari, Maria Teresa Ventura, Dana Wallace, De Yun Wang, Siân Williams, Arzu Yorgancioglu, Osman M. Yusuf, Mario Zernotti, Jean Bousquet, Ludger Klimek

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

30 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: Although there are many asymptomatic patients, one of the problems of COVID-19 is early recognition of the disease. COVID-19 symptoms are polymorphic and may include upper respiratory symptoms. However, COVID-19 symptoms may be mistaken with the common cold or allergic rhinitis. An ARIA-EAACI study group attempted to differentiate upper respiratory symptoms between the three diseases. Methods: A modified Delphi process was used. The ARIA members who were seeing COVID-19 patients were asked to fill in a questionnaire on the upper airway symptoms of COVID-19, common cold and allergic rhinitis. Results: Among the 192 ARIA members who were invited to respond to the questionnaire, 89 responded and 87 questionnaires were analysed. The consensus was then reported. A two-way ANOVA revealed significant differences in the symptom intensity between the three diseases (p <.001). Conclusions: This modified Delphi approach enabled the differentiation of upper respiratory symptoms between COVID-19, the common cold and allergic rhinitis. An electronic algorithm will be devised using the questionnaire.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2354-2366
Number of pages13
JournalAllergy: European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
Volume76
Issue number8
Early online date2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2021

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • allergic rhinitis
  • common cold
  • cough
  • smell

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